Today’s Tough Trivia question: There are 24 active aircraft carriers in the world (of the horizontal take-off and landing type, not counting those which are strictly vertical take-off, or helicopter carriers). Five countries have one (France, India, Russia, Spain, and Thailand [though the fighter wing was retired from service in 2006]), four countries have two (Australia [though they don’t have any carrier-based fixed-wing aircraft], China, Italy, and the UK), and the United States has eleven. Name the active US aircraft carriers… in the order they were commissioned.

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Friday’s question was: Currently, the US Mint produces and circulates six coin denominations: cent, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, and dollar. But those aren’t the only denominations the US has minted: in past years, there were several other denominations. How many others can you name? Bonus points if you know which years they circulated.

The answer is:

Half cent, 1793–1857.
Two cents, 1863–1873.
Three cents, 1865–1889.
Half dime (worth five cents, but considered a different denomination than the nickel), 1792–1873 (the nickel entered circulation in 1866).
Twenty cents, 1875–1878.
Gold dollar, 1849–1889.
Quarter eagle ($2.50), 1849–1889.
Three dollars, 1854–1889.
Half eagle ($5.00), 1795–1929.
Eagle ($10.00) ,1795–1933.
Double eagle ($20.00), 1849–1933.

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Ian’s Tough Trivia is a daily feature of this blog. Each day, I post a tough question, as well as the answer to the previous day’s question. At some point, I’ll offer a prize for whoever has the most correct answers, and another for whoever participates most often (I’ll take into account people coming in after the start: regular participation starting later is just as good as regular participation starting earlier). There may also be a prize for the funniest or most amusing wrong answer. Simply comment on this post with your answer. I’ll approve the comments after the next question is posted. Sure, you can probably find the answers by searching the web, but what’s the fun in that?

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